Author Interview with Michael Meyer

Mike Meyer recently retired after a 40-year career of teaching writing at a California community college. He has traveled extensively throughout the world, having lived in Finland, Germany, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. He lives in Southern California wine country with his wife, Kitty, and their two other cats. 

Enter below for a chance to win an ebook copy of Covert Dreams or Deadly Eyes by Mike Meyers!

Life is good for B.J. He has a great job and a loving wife. But all of a sudden he begins experiencing a series of lifelike nightmares, where he knows intimate details of Munich, a city in which he has never been. He can speak German in his dream, a language he does not know. Everybody thinks he is losing it. Is he going crazy? To save himself, he knows that he has but one option: he must go to Munich to uncover the truth behind his dreams.

Stan Halsey, a professor in Saudi Arabia, sends for his wife to join him, but she suddenly disappears soon after her arrival, along with every trace of her very existence. There is absolutely nothing, not one single detail in any records anywhere, to prove that she is indeed a living person and that her spouse is not crazy for thinking so. Both the American government officials and the Saudi Arabian authorities insist that she does not exist. Stan Halsey, all alone in his quest, must act fast before he is forced out of the country.

What is real, and what is not? Who is really who, and why? The mounting suspense moves from Munich, to London, to Rome, and to the burning sands of Saudi Arabia. What is the horrifying link between these two alternating stories? Do you love mysteries? Do you love thrillers? Do you love suspense? If so, then take on COVERT DREAMS.
Watch the Trailer for  Covert Dreams
Buy Covert Dreams on Amazon

James Cuffy, better known as Cuff, is living in paradise with his girlfriend, on the small Caribbean island of St. Croix, where the sky is as blue as Cuff’s eyes, the ocean as pretty as Rosie’s cheeks, where the gentle lapping of the waves is a lullaby, and the swaying of the palm trees is a dance. The sandy beaches are as white as sugar, and the horizon is a world away. St. Croix indeed is paradise, the perfect place for living, laughing, and loving.

But the sandy beaches and the turquoise sea can provide no cover from the deadly eyes of the unknown stalker pursuing Cuff. Murder leads to murder as he attempts to untangle the terrible web in which he has suddenly become entangled.

The twists and turns are relentless, the roads of the fast action leading in all directions, but time is running out, and Cuff, his faithful Rosie at his side, knows it.

Watch the Trailer for Deadly Eyes

Buy Deadly Eyes on Amazon

When did you first know you wanted to be a writer? Do you see writing as a career?

I became fascinated with books at a very young age. I must have read every CURIOUS GEORGE book out there. At the age of ten, I self-published my first book, a short synopsis of California history. My parents bought the only copy, but I was a published author. At that point I was hooked. I am not out for money. As a retired college professor, I have a nice pension. Rather, I want to write until I die. I love creating characters and plots. Writing to me is like reading. I never know precisely where things will lead. I am in good health, and my doctor told me that writing is a very healthy avocation for someone in my situation: a retiree. I love his advice.

Were the characters in Covert Dreams created around people in your life? How did you decide on the character names?
The characters in COVERT DREAMS all come from my imagination, but bits and pieces of people I have known have found a home in them. As a student in Germany, I got to know Munich like the back of my hand. As a professor in Saudi Arabia, I got to know the country well. The names of the characters are all my creation, but the locales in both Munich and Saudi Arabia are true to life.

What is your work schedule like when you're writing?
I am an early morning person, so I like to get to work right after breakfast. I walk for about an hour six days a week, and on that walk, just before breakfast, while exercising my body, I am also exercising my brain by coming up with ideas for that morning’s writing session. I sometimes find myself having to hurry home just to be able to jot down a note or two before I lose the idea. I generally like to write for several hours a day, but every once in a while the skies turn dark without my even knowing it since I have been on such a roll at my computer, and the day simply got away from me.

Where do you get your ideas for your books?
I have always loved mysteries, so I wanted to write ones in exotic locales that I know well. I have been intrigued by the strange relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia, and the whole area of parapsychology has always fascinated me. That’s where COVERT DREAMS came from. DEADLY EYES came from my fascination with the Caribbean, where I lived for four years on the island of St. Croix. THE FAMOUS UNION shows the quirky side of academia, where I spent a 40-year career as an English professor. THE SURVIVAL OF MARVIN BAINES comes from my having experienced midlife firsthand.

Do you ever suffer from writer's block? If so, what do you do to get over it?
I like to go with the flow. If I feel like writing, nothing can stop me. I can write for hours, non-stop, words rushing to get onto the page. If I don’t feel like writing, I enjoy life’s other pleasures, not feeling compelled to write that day since I want writing and reading to only bring me pleasure. My chosen career is over, and now my time is reserved for living the good life.

Is there someone in your life who inspired you to write? Was there another author or a teacher who encouraged you?
I have always loved language, the way words can be creatively strung together to create meaning. I come from a long line of teachers, my grandparents, my parents, my aunts, my uncles, my cousins, my siblings, and all of them have had a hand in inspiring me to become the writer I am today. 

What do you do to unwind and relax?
I am an avid world traveller. I have lived in Finland, Germany, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. I have travelled extensively, many times, throughout the Caribbean, Asia, the Middle East, and both Western and Eastern Europe. I love being a part of different cultures, learning things that I would never have known if I had stayed only in my native California. My wife and I travel internationally at least once a year. 

What book are you reading now?
I am on the verge of completing HEMINGWAY’S BOAT, which will be a nice bridge to my next read, THE PARIS WIFE.

How would you describe Covert Dreams to someone who has never heard of it?
COVERT DREAMS is an international thriller that roars through London, Rome, Munich, and Saudi Arabia. It is a murder mystery combined with elements of parapsychology, where what is real just might not be the case.

If you could leave your readers with one legacy, what would you want it to be?
I hope that people will laugh, cry, and panic in the very places I intended them to do so. I hope they will say that they have read an author who cares deeply about both his characters and his word choices.

What were your feelings when you first saw the finished product of your first book?
I was both elated and sad, simultaneously. My baby was both born and out of the nest at the same time. I had spent so long creating him, and suddenly he had gone off to live on his own in his new Amazon home. I missed interacting with him on such an intense and nearly daily basis.

Do you have any advice for budding writers?
Write, write, and write. There are many excuses that can be made as to why you cannot write at a particular time, but ignore them. A writer is a person who writes. Period.

Find Mike Meyer at any of these sites:
Amazon author’s site: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005E7M8CW
Goodreads author’s site: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/674...
Facebook author’s site: http://facebook.com/temmike


a Rafflecopter giveaway